AUBURN – The weekend marks the first home Auburn football game for the 2012 season and the first opportunity to awarding the Auburn Family tailgating excellence. This year Auburn Athletics is hosting its very own tailgate awards in five different categories – Best RV, Best Face Painting, Best Outfit, Best Recipe and Best All-Around Tailgate – through its Pinterest page.

Auburn is known as one of the best tailgating schools in the nation,” said Assistant Athletic Director for Public Relations Cassie Arner. “We now want to make sure the best and most creative of those fans get recognized and rewarded for the hard work that goes into each gameday spread.”

Members of the Auburn Athletic Public Relations Department will be patrolling the tailgating lots each Saturday in search for best of the best. The awards will be chosen by a member of the Auburn Athletics PR Department and will be posted onto the Auburn Athletics Pinterest account the Monday following each home game. The weekend winners will receive an award for their Auburn Spirit.

At the end of the season, there will be an overall winner for each category, which will receive prizes for representing the best in their respective category. If you feel you have a tailgate worthy of award-winning recognition, send details to gameday@auburn.edu with the subject line “Tailgate Awards.”

WEAGLE: Weagle, Auburn’s sock monkey who made his debut in London at the Olympic Games, is back in Auburn and ready for another season of Auburn Athletic events. He’ll be roaming around the campus on Saturday, causing mischief at as many tailgate parties as he can. If you would like Weagle to visit your tailgate, email gameday@auburn.edu with the subject line “Weagle.”